Subject: Found this beauty in my hotel room! Geographic location of the bug: Phoenix Date: 01/14/2019 Time: 07:35 PM EDT Your letter to the bugman: I was laying on my bed in my hotel room looking at the ceiling and suddenly realized I was staring at a pretty good sized spider. I called maintenance for a ladder and the guy showed up with a stick and a wad of duct tape inside out on the end of it. I said I wanted it captured alive so we could release it and he promptly handed me the ladder and a trash can. After some coaxing I managed to get it in the can and released it across the street. It’s January in Phoenix, cool weather (65 by day, 40s by night, but since it was inside that might not matter as much). As you can see it has stripes, and it was almost perfectly flat against the ceiling. My guess is fishing spider but wondering what you think. Thanks for your help in advance! How you want your letter signed: Erich Walsh

Flattie

Dear Erich, We have not awarded the Bug Humanitarian Award in some time, but discovering this Spider in a hotel room, calling maintenance and then capturing and releasing the Spider across the street certainly qualifies you as a bug humanitarian. Your description that “it was almost perfectly flat against the ceiling” is acknowledged by the common name Flattie for Spiders in the family Selenopodidae, genus Selenops, which can be viewed on BugGuide. According to BugGuide: “This genus is found throughout the tropics and subtropics worldwide and can be found in southern parts of the U.S. In Sarah Crews’ 2011 paper, it is noted that there are quite a few unsorted specimens from all over the southwest (so it is best not to take the following ranges as concrete).” Confusing this Flattie for a Fishing Spider is understandable.

Daniel,

Thank you so much for the identification and the bug humanitarian award! That’s good fun and feels great. You deserve an award more than I do though for being a public advocate for nature and helping people be a part of that.

Subject: Help with Bug ID Geographic location of the bug: Vila Velha, Brazil Your letter to the bugman: I am six years old and living in Brazil for a year. I rescued this interesting bug from a swimming pool and want to know what it is. My dad is helping me type this message. Thank you for your help! How you want your letter signed: From Nadia F.

Darkling Beetle

Dear Nadia, This is a Darkling Beetle in the family Tenebrionidae. Because of your kind act of rescuing this Darkling Beetle from a swimming pool, we are tagging this posting with the Bug Humanitarian Award.

Subject: Moth or butterfly Geographic location of the bug: Greenville, SC Date: 08/11/2018 Time: 06:48 PM EDT Your letter to the bugman: We heard this guy flapping his wings between a wall and bookshelf in the garage. I moved the bookshelf to find him very sluggish. He wasn’t interested in flying away and when he triwd, he didn’t get far. We slid him onto some paper and transferred him to the tree. He has since flown off. He might have been traumatized. Girls say butterfly, adults are leaning towards moth. What is it? How you want your letter signed: Pedro Aponte

Female Tuliptree Silkmoth

Dear Pedro, Adults are correct in this matter, however this is not a “guy” but rather a female Giant Silkmoth in the genus Callosamia, probably a Tuliptree Silkmoth, Callosamia angulifera which is pictured on BugGuide. Male Giant Silkmoths have more feathery antennae that they use to locate females that release pheromones. Giant Silkmoths only live a few days as adults, long enough to mate and reproduce, so your assistance in releasing this Tuliptree Silkmoth back into nature garners you the Bug Humanitarian tag on the posting. Do you have a tuliptree near your garage? It is possible that the mature caterpillar left the host tree and found a secluded location to form a cocoon and to pupate, and that location was behind the bookshelf. Then we she emerged, she found herself trapped.

Subject: Large Wasp Geographic location of the bug: South of Spain Date: 08/04/2018 Time: 05:57 AM EDT Your letter to the bugman: Hi Bugman, Saved this wasp looking insect from the pool but it’s much larger than a regular wasp. Any ideas as to what it may be? Many thanks How you want your letter signed: Voni

European Wool Carder Bee

Dear Voni, This is an exciting posting for us because this is a European Wool Carder Bee, Anthidium manicatum, and all of the representatives of the species on our site are from North America because according to BugGuide: “Introduced from Europe before 1963; spreading throughout NE. & W. NA.” BugGuide also states: “Females collect ‘wool’ from downy plants such as Lamb’s Ears to line their nest cavities” and “Robust, black and yellow. Males significantly larger than females.” Discover Life has some great images and we also found a posting from Spain on FlickR. We are tagging this posting with the Bug Humanitarian Award because of your pool rescue.

Subject: Possibly a female Eastern Dobson fly ? Geographic location of the bug: Virginia – Northern VA rainy night Date: 07/21/2018 Time: 11:40 PM EDT Your letter to the bugman: This seems to match the female Eastern dobson fly photos best, if the wing patterns can be variable and the lovely orange middle part to the antenna is permissible, except the mouth parts are not quite as large as usually shown on female dobson flies (I could not get a good mouth photo as she was so tight to the concrete and fidgety) and she was under two inches which seems small except it’s likely posted photos are often the exceptional and impressive individuals (thus the prevalence of male dobson photos)… so what bothers me is Mainly the abdomen seems much longer and somewhat more slender than any of the dobson photos. That last detail has me concerned that it’s some closely related insect and not exactly a dobson. Relative body length seems to be a somewhat odd thing to have be so variable… Thank you so much for the time and attention that goes into this entire web site. It’s super helpful and always fascinating! How you want your letter signed: My insect collection is all photos

Antlion

This is an Antlion, not a female Dobsonfly and we believe we have identified it as a Spotted Winged Antlion, Dendroleon obsoletus, thanks to images on BugGuide. According to BugGuide: “Large, with black circular spots on wings–distinctive in much of range. Antennae slightly clubbed, with pointed tips, often (or always?) pinkish in the middle (based on photos in the guide)” and “Adults often come to lights.” Because of your image based insect collection (which we are guessing is a class project) we are tagging your submission with the Bug Humanitarian Award. We have gotten both praise and grief in the past for not identifying some requests because we believe students need to learn to do research, but since your submission contained an actual attempt at identification, we have relaxed our policy on doing homework.

Wow! Thank you! I really was off… No, my image based bug collection is Not a “class project” – I’m 63 and although life can certainly include (and really should) prolonged or never-ending education, I’m not enrolled in any college classes anymore. I just like bugs – you can relate no doubt! I do carry spiders outside and never squish a smaller critter, but my award is undeserved in this case, not being a student (except life-long)… Wanted to be an entomologist when I was a kid, became a psychologist, and yet I still love the insect types of “buggies”… Again, many thanks for the correction and I’ll make that correction on my photo title.

Subject: Gorgeous Red Spotted Purple Butterfly Geographic location of the bug: High Springs, Fl. Date: 07/22/2018 Time: 10:46 AM EDT Your letter to the bugman: Hi big team. When I lived in Orlando I was a little too far south to see these beauties and I told my husband that it was my dream to one day see a red spotted purple. Since we moved to north central Florida I now see them occasionally and they are quite photogenic. We bought a wild cherry tree and even raised a couple of caterpillars into adulthood. Here’s a photo of my latest sighting. Thank you for your time and efforts so that nature lovers like myself can enjoy this site. How you want your letter signed: Elizabeth (a.k.a . Butterfly Girl)

Red Spotted Purple

Dear Elizabeth, The Red Spotted Purple is most definitely one of the most beautiful North American butterflies. Providing habitat and larval foods is a very good strategy for attracting butterflies, and we are happy to hear your wild cherry tree is luring Red Spotted Purples for you. Because of your habitat creating efforts, we are tagging this submission with the Bug Humanitarian Award.

I am honored. I really enjoy every effort to help nature thrive. Thank you. Elizabeth